Transition and Disruption in Asia

ADI conference 2018 banner

Photo: Vincent Vaerman

10th Annual ADI Conference
18-20 June 2018 - Asian Dynamics Initiative - University of Copenhagen 

Since the launch of the Asian Dynamics Initiative at the University of Copenhagen in 2008, the ADI annual conference has become a well-established event in Asian Studies internationally. With the conference in 2018 we continued this tradition.

With the spectacular rise of China and India, it is only natural that these populous new superpowers dominate scholarly and media attention, while other regions in Asia are foregrounded only in exceptional moments of  environmental, political or economic crisis. Yet the latter, too, confirm the need to conceive of Asia as a site of accelerated change. This principle also applies to the pre-modern period, in spite of the fact that Eurocentric observers preferred to conceptualize this vast space as a permanently stagnant region. Global historians nowadays argue for considering Asia not as a discrete continent, but as an integral part of the Eurasian landmass, which has always experienced diverse processes of change, including episodes of disruption and crisis. While phases of transition are conventionally identified with positive change and a measure of predictability, disruption has more negative connotations, since it is assumed to increase unpredictability. Yet both can be conceived in terms of opportunities for transformation and applied fruitfully to grasp the complex dynamics of what has been dubbed the "Asian century".

Welcome by Rector Henrik Wegener, University of Copenhagen and opening speech by Permanent Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Ulrik Vestergaard Knudsen “Denmark’s Asia Policy”

Keynote addresses was given by two distinguished scholars:  

Professor Dr Hermann Kreutzmann, Chair of Human Geography, Department of Geography, Freie Universität Berlin
"Pamirian Crossroads and impacts of the New Silk Road Initiative"

Professor Ran Wei, Gonzales Brothers Professor of Journalism, School of Journalism and Mass Communications, College of Information and Communications, University of South Carolina
A Clash of Cultures? The Cultural Influence of Smartphones and Mobile Devices in Confucian Asia

The conference also featured panels, workshops and roundtables on a wide range of themes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Organising Committee

  • Ildiko Beller-Hann, Dept of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
  • Jørgen Delman, Dept of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
  • Janus Hansen, Dept of Sociology
  • Ravinder Kaur, Dept of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
  • Peter Marcus Kristensen, Dept of Political Science
  • Jakob Roland Munch, Dept of Economics
  • Marie Roesgaard, Dept of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies
  • Oscar Salemink, Dept of Anthropology
  • Sarah Swider, Dept of Sociology
  • Ayo Wahlberg, Dept of Anthropology
  • Marie Yoshida, Asian Dynamics Initiative

Sponsor

The conference has received support from

ØK’s Almennyttige Fond  |  
EAC Foundation